Delaware. Bowl, early 19th century. Wood, brass, 7 1/4 x 14 x 14 in. (18.4 x 35.6 x 35.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Henry L. Batterman Fund and the Frank Sherman Benson Fund, 50.67.161. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 50.67.161_view01_PS11.jpg)
Delaware. Bowl, early 19th century. Wood, brass, 7 1/4 x 14 x 14 in. (18.4 x 35.6 x 35.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Henry L. Batterman Fund and the Frank Sherman Benson Fund, 50.67.161. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 50.67.161_view02_PS11.jpg)
Delaware. Bowl, early 19th century. Wood, brass, 7 1/4 x 14 x 14 in. (18.4 x 35.6 x 35.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Henry L. Batterman Fund and the Frank Sherman Benson Fund, 50.67.161. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 50.67.161_bw_SL1.jpg)
Bowl
Arts of the Americas
On View: Special Exhibition Gallery, 5th Floor
Nineteenth-century depictions of Native people by European colonizers have long obscured the cultural vibrancy of Indigenous artistic traditions, as exemplified by this delicately carved wood bowl adorned with two human faces in relief. A brass plate covering a large crack on one side shows that the owner repaired it, indicating that the bowl was a treasured item likely passed down from generation to generation. If it was collected in Fort Snelling, Minnesota, in the 1830s, it may have traveled with Lenape refugees fleeing north to Wisconsin or Ontario, Canada.
CULTURES
Delaware or Haudenosaunee
MEDIUM
Wood, brass
DATES
early 19th century
DIMENSIONS
7 1/4 x 14 x 14 in. (18.4 x 35.6 x 35.6 cm) (show scale)
COLLECTIONS
Arts of the Americas
ACCESSION NUMBER
50.67.161
CREDIT LINE
Henry L. Batterman Fund and the Frank Sherman Benson Fund
PROVENANCE
Prior to 1848, provenance not yet documented; by 1848, acquired by Nathan Sturges Jarvis; 1848, gift of Nathan Sturges Jarvis to the New-York Historical Society, New York, NY; 1937, loaned by the New-York Historical Society to the Brooklyn Museum; 1950, purchased from the New-York Historical Society by the Brooklyn Museum.
Provenance FAQ
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Wooden bowl with schematic faces carved in relief on two vertical, stepped-shaped, rim lugs, which are located opposite each other. The wood grain shows on the bowl along with some dark stains in the interior bottom. The brass is a Native repair. Wooden bowls with images generally were treasured and inherited, passed from generation to generation.
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is on view in Special Exhibition Gallery, 5th Floor
CAPTION
Delaware. Bowl, early 19th century. Wood, brass, 7 1/4 x 14 x 14 in. (18.4 x 35.6 x 35.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Henry L. Batterman Fund and the Frank Sherman Benson Fund, 50.67.161. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 50.67.161_view01_PS11.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 50.67.161_view01_PS11.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2020
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
RIGHTS STATEMENT
Creative Commons-BY
You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply.
Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply).
For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch.
For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright.
If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
RECORD COMPLETENESS
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.
